How to build and run Maven projects after importing into Eclipse IDE

Question

I am learning building a Java project in Eclipse using Maven. I created a Java project HelloWorld from
“maven-archetype-quickstart” template in a folder D:/maven_projects. Then to convert the Maven project to support Eclipse IDE, I navigated into the project folder and issued the commands:
mvn eclipse:eclipse and mvn package .

Then I imported the project in Eclipse and did the necessary Eclipse configurations like setting the Maven local repository in Eclipse classpath. Now the project in D:/EclipseWorkspace folder. I ran the project successfully in Eclipse printing "helloworld".

Now if I want to go on develop the project and for that reason want to add new dependencies in pom.xml in Eclipse, then the new jars are not added in classpath when I run the project.

So my question is after importing a Maven project into Eclipse how can I add more and more dependencies in pom.xml, then build and run the project? What is the recommended and efficient way to do this?

Answer 1

I would recommend you don't use the m2eclipse command line tools (i.e. mvn eclipse:eclipse) and instead use the built-in Maven support, known as m2e.

Delete your project from Eclipse, then run mvn eclipse:clean on your project to remove the m2eclipse project data. Finally, with a modern version of Eclipse, just do "Import > Maven > Existing project into workspace..." and select your pom.xml.

M2e will automatically manage your dependencies and download them as required. It also supports Maven builds through a new "Run as Maven build..." interface. It's rather nifty.